What it does
One Media IP PLC (LON:OMIP) buys up the rights to music catalogues and then monestises the properties.
The artists get cash upfront for selling part or all of their back catalogue and One Media gets a reliable recurring revenue stream that will continue years after each artist’s death.
Unlike Hipgnosis Songs Fund, it tends to deal with smaller but still well-known artists, such as Mungo Jerry, plus it also has a big catalogue of classical music. As the company tends to only buy partial rights, leaving the previous catalogue owners with a stake, its effort to generate income from its assets via outlets such as Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon and Spotify tend to benefit the artists or publishing companies as well as One Media.
What it owns
- One Media’s new Harmony iP business is the music catalogue side of the business
- It also has a powerful proprietary technology called the Technical Copyright Analysis Tool, or TCAT for short, to clamp down on piracy.
How it is doing
Revenues in the year to end-October rose by 14% to £4mln with profit before tax up by a third to £740,000.
Since the half-year, One Media has also acquired a back catalogue of producer royalties from Take That's songs and launched a new Men & Motors TV channel as well forming a new TCAT arm.
Michael Infante, chief executive, said the period to October had been another successful year for the company, pointing out that even in the midst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic underlying profit or EBITDA grew 38%.
In February, the intellectual property (IP) rights firm struck a deal that will give it commercial control over a catalogue of 2,000 rare recordings of greats such as Glenn Miller, Cole Porter and Count Basie.
It has acquired the licensor's royalty share of the collection on what it described as an “in-perpetuity basis” from 21 Vision. Financial terms were not disclosed.
What the boss says: chief executive, Michael Infante
“TCAT, we believe, can become a major player to both record labels and artists alike, whose content is exploited in over 167 territories globally within the 130 million-music tracks traded daily on digital stores.
“As 2021 progresses, and further to our successful fundraise of £6 million, Harmony iP is being offered as an alternative method of allowing copyright holders to partially cash-out and partner with One Media, taking a share in the asset income and giving TCAT care to the content now under joint ownership."
What the broker says
The company’s broker Cenkos expects the existing content library to continue to grow its revenue base at around 10%, aided by a strong pipeline of potential acquisitions.
“It has an easily scalable business model allowing it to expand its geographical footprint, exploit its new product offerings and capitalise on the growth in streaming globally.
“This combined with One Media’s strong pipeline of catalogue acquisitions and its track record of acquiring assets, which are underpinned by low-risk content with robust annuity-like revenues…bodes well for future financial performance.”